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"Those Krazy Kardashians"
'''Introduction ''' Two of the driving questions in Unit 3: Media Networks that I feel are important to begin the introduction of this Wiki Project are the following, “How does new media affect our notions of community? And, how does new media offer us a new way to understand how knowledge is measured and stored, exchanged, and deemed authentic?” To answer these questions we first must focus on immediacy as it relates to media networks. Immediacy is one of the logics of remediation where its purpose is to erase our awareness of its presence. “…the logic of immediacy dictates that the medium itself should disappear and leave us in the presence of the thing represented” Bolter, J.D. and Richard Grusin. "Remediation." Course Readings, ENGL 295.6. In class one of the examples we looked at was the Droid commercial- where the medium itself is somehow so convenient, as if all the possibilities you get through the phone able you to access anything you want. One of the four techniques of immediacy that is relevant to this project is “interfaceless interface” examples include; a smart phone, Wii, Connect, and Mac Computer. This concept recognizes the desire for reality by erasing the media suggesting a unified visual space so that it is transparent. According to Bolter and Grusin immediacy is the “desire to get past the limits of representation and to achieve the real” Bolter, J.D. and Richard Gruisin. “Remediation.” Course Readings, ENGL 295. 53. Therefore, transparent media achieves the real by taking away the fact that you are using the medium. The “real” according to Bolter and Grusin can be classified in the following statement, “They are not striving for the real in any metaphysical sense. Instead, the real is defined in terms of the viewers experience; it is that which would evoke an immediate (and therefore authentic) emotional response” Bolter, J.D. and Richard Gruisin. “Remediation.” Course Readings, ENGL 295. 54. Immediacy is the broader theme of this Media Networks course that is crucial to the understanding of the connection between this project. The individual wiki project is designed to provide me the opportunity to demonstrate my understanding of important concepts learned in our unit on “Media Networks”. In order to show my understanding I have chosen the hit reality TV series ''Keeping Up With The Kardashians, ''as the transparent televised platform. To provide a thorough analysis of ''Keeping Up With The Kardashians, ''I plan to include the following four content sections, which will engage in analysis of specific aspects of my focus televised reality community: knowledge communities, interpretative disputes, refashioning’s, and lifestyle. To assist me in elaborating on the previous content sections I have used a variety of resources that include; message boards and personal websites – that demonstrate the prevalence of knowledge communities. Before I begin my analysis it is important that I define “knowledge communities” for my readers. Knowledge communities are generally characterized as, “A participatory audience organized to gather and constitute collective intelligence- flexible and held together though mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge” Levy, Pierre. "Convergence Culture." Course Readings, ENGL 295. 27. My interpretations and conclusions of the knowledge communities that surround the ''Keeping Up With The Kardashians, ''hit reality TV series has led me to believe that they have a large following of both supportive and non supportive fans who together form a participatory audience organized to gather and contribute intelligence by exchanging a wide array of ideas and questions. '''Content Sections''' '''Knowledge Communitites''' As mentioned in the introduction section, “Knowledge Communities” is the following, “A participatory audience organized to gather and constitute collective intelligence. Flexible and held together through mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge” Levy, Pierre. “Convergence Culture.” Course Readings, ENGL 295. 27 Knowledge communities are heavility prevelant in the following cuture of the Keeping Up With The Kardashian reality TV series. The fan base culture of the hit reality TV series comes together over the internet via; websites, forums and social media outlets to discuss issues of knowledge. Facebook is one of the ever so prevelant examples of "Knowledge communities" that exists in the media today. Facebook as we have discussed early on in our focus on Media Networks, functions via Wev 2.0 a website that uses technology beyond the statis page and allows users to retrive information. The Keeping Up With The Kardashian [https://www.facebook.com/kuwtk Facebook Page ] circulates knowledge from its 7.1 million followers by organzing this information in a way that it is easily communicable amongst this fan base. There are several features of the Keeping Up With The Kardashian Facebook page that give its followers something to generate conversation that being: photos, videos and a live update of what is going on in the lives of the television stars. The different content sections that Facebook organizes the informaiton for this reality TV show allows its following to post their comments and opinions in the forms of threads- where anyone can leave a message or respond to someone that too left a comment. One of the beauties about Facebook, is that this particular "Knowledge Community" gives the Kardashian following the opportunity to respond to real live things that are occuring in their day to day lives. It gives supportters and haters the chance to voice their opinion on the life occurences that the Kardashians experince. Therefore, the knowledge that is pooled is to create in my opinion an "Encyclopedia Universe" where instead of spoiling the show you can go online and find more information about what is going on and possible updates that have occured within time stamps of the different post. Lets look directly a post for further clarification. Facebook is a great outlet for the reality TV stars to get their message spread to their fans. One of the topics surfacing the media heavily now is Kim Kardashian's weight gain due to her pregnancy. All of the tabloids you see pictures of Kim with the most hurtful phrases, "I cannot stop eating", "Kim worst dress", "She will never be the sexy Kardashian sister again"- when fans pick up these magazines that cannot necesarily respond or voice their opinion. However, with the post of one picture on Facebook of Kim Kardashian pregnant it can recieve 212 comments, 145 shares and over 14, 000 likes alone. One follower comments, "Your belly is so pretty- you will be the best mom Kim" while just a few comments above another posts says, "Kim, there is a pic of Evan Rachel Wood posted in a lovely black dress. Take not. It's what a classy pregnant woman loks like." "Keeping Up With The Kardashions on E! Facebook" https://www.facebook.com/kuwtk The opportunity that Facebook serves as a knowledge community entices the different values that are established in the process of pooling knowledge for the Keeping Up With The Kardashian reality tv series. The values here that are very common between this community is the affection and desire to communicate with this family- by comment on a picture an opinion a fan feels its voice is heard. By responding back to someone who has an indifferent opinion about the decisions made in this family facilitates the spread of knowledge. While Facebook has a combination of knowledge that is spread via the different postings on the page. The [http://www.fanforum.com/f114/keeping-up-kardashians-1-tvs-hottest-family-62899795/index2.html Fan Forum ] site offers a little bit of a twist. A girl by the name "Elite Fan" thought it would be a great idea for her to start a thread given how popular the show was and the disbelief that it did not have a current thread. On her thread you can find five pages of her on unique "knowledge community" that started by people being added to communicate and share knowledge about their favorite show (Keeping Up With The Kardashians). The general flow of knowledge again is much like an Encyclopedia where people ask questions with the hopes of getting a answer- or share their thoughts from a particular episode. Shattered Jewel posts, "Can I be added to the list? I agree about Kourtney and Scoot. I really wish she had walked away a long time ago but I feel liek he'd fina way to get back with her every time" http://www.fanforum.com/f114/keeping-up-kardashians-1-tvs-hottest-family-62899795/index3.html Unlike Facebook, where the TV stars post something to generate the follow of conversation- this fan forum allows fans to post whatever they want and dicuss it freely amongst themselves. '''Interpretive Disputes''' “Interpretative Disputes” can be understood as the following, “We derive meaning not form the text itself, but from the protocols of the interpretive community we are working in. Interpretation is communal rather than an interpretive act.” Those take away points best reflect the profound knowledge of Stanley Fish’s notion of interpretive communities where, “…The community of inquirers establishes the truth of a theory…since the community of similar interpreter’s judges and interprets; some interpretations may be better or worse than others at least for that community…” Fish, Stanley. "Article" Course Readings, ENGL 295. Put simply, Fish see’s viewing as a “temporal process in which the viewer constructs interpretations and repudiates them in favor of new ones” Fish, Stanley. "Article" Course Readings, ENGL 295. The Keeping Up WIth The Kardashian reality TV series has a community of followers that engage in debate, allowing us to consider how these communinities engage in a collective process of meaning making. The fan base of this reality TV show come together online via social media and fan sites to discuss matters of interpretative dispute. In our class discussion, polling was one of the prominent areas focused on in regards to the category of interpretative disputes. Polling online allows for knowledge communities to debate on different topics by the click of the button and show a disperesed amount of data and opinions. Lets take a look at some of the polling that can be found on [http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians The Kardashian Fan Pop Page ]. On the Kardashian Fan Pop page you will find 53 poll questions that give the knowledge communities the opportunity to choose their answer to individial questions. The questions for instance can be about the reality TV show or the lives and whats happening of the Kardashian Family. The great thing about the polling questions offered on this website is that some are considered "Spoilers" Spoilers are considered any information or piece of knowledge that is leaked before it is aired on a reality television show. Not only are these question prevelant to stir up chaos amongst the fan, but there are websites linked within the polled quesitons that allow fans to do further research. The polls can stir up quite the uproar in conversation, but its great because all of chaos can be discussed on the "forums" page. Here people can post topics and people can respond and start conversations. The for um page for the Kardashian Family can be found on [http://www.topix.com/forum/tv/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians Topix]- currently there are over 100 threads of conversation happening with up to 46 responses on each of them. The threads generally have to do with the personal lives of the family and what is circulating in the media that these communities need answers too and fast. To get a better look at the site refer to the pictures on the right showing the homepage of Topix and what a thread conversation entails. Kim Kardashian is heavy on the topic of conversation and her pregnancy right now in the threads. I will take a look at the post titled [http://www.topix.com/forum/tv/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians/TVV71OAO7035NMJ3M#comments "Kim Kardahian shows her bare baby bump in a bikinni"] for analysis of this interpretative dispute. Over 40 comments were left on this thread some of which were positive, some negative and some neutral. People tend to disagree on their opinions of Kim Kardashians pregnancy whether its that shes fat or ugly or will never be sexy again. Cases and points are made simply by stating opinion- when others disagree they have the option to insert the quote in their response and dispute it. The features offered on this site are great because it allows the communities to voice their opinion acuratley to their liking. '''Refashionings''' “Refashioning’s” for the purpose of this wiki project can be defined as follows the repurposing of a reality TV series across different mediums. The ''Keeping Up With The Kardashians ''reality TV series is refashioned is refashioned in a variety of ways including; fan videos, fan art and other means through which viewers have channeled this show through their own vision. The concept of "refashioing" or re purposing can occur within a single medium similar to Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. While on the other hand similar to the findings of the Keeping Up With The Kardashian refashioning world it can also occur via multiple mediums as we have seen in Frankenstein and Patchwork Girl or Young Frankenstein. Because the Keeping Up With The Kardashian reality TV series has an enormous amount of material that has been refashioned by their fans through multiple mediums I will focus on fan videos. Lets not forget that the Keeping Up With The Kardashian reality TV series thrives off of transparent media the ability to achieve the real. Fan videos breaking down the fourth wall and allowing knowledge communitites to cultivate in the real world with this television show. [http://www.keek.com Keek] is a "free online social networking service that enables its users to upoload video status updates, and reply back with text or vieo comments, and share content to other major social media networks." "Keek"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keek I have chosen to use Keek as the example of Fan video communities for this project because it is place that allows for knowledge to be spread via video format. One of the uniqe aspects about Keek and the Kardashian family is that, Keek was not a well known Video posting social media sight- until the the family and partners joined arms and the Kardashians partnered with Keek to spread the word online. Every member of the Kardashian family can be found on Keek and they all are apart of the Top 25 most watched keeks. When the Kardashian family partnered with Keek, fans were eager at the opportunity to get insight into their daily lives. While at the same time Keek allows the Kardashian fan community to to post videos with the hopes of one of the Kardashian family members responding to their video and encourging communication among the other fans. Lets take a look at an example of a keek online on the website, that is Fan Video for the Kardashian Family. Below is a screen shot of the [http://www.keek.com/KimKardashian Kim Kardashian Keek Page ]here you will find her [http://www.keek.com/!Ao4Jbab Daily Keeks ]and a thread below of comments and videos that fans post in response to what she has posted. The Fan Video that was posted in correspondence to Kim Kardashian's keek is the following [http://www.keek.com/!NZ8Sbab Video. ]Fans will do anything to show their appreciation and for their voice to be heard. What do these Fan Videos tell us about the Kardashian fan community? Well its obvious they are loyal and dedicated and want their voice to be heard. The fans want to show that they keep up with their every day lives and are eager to find out the latest news and updates. Showing tribute in the form of fan video is a creative and expressive way to utilize technology and show how knowledge can be spread via new media networks. The great aspect of these different ways of refashioings is that they occur across multiple mediums and allow the knowledge communities to interact with one another and the stars from the hit reality television series. '''Further Resources''' '''To get a closer look into the lives of the Kardashian Family, please refer to the resources below- if you click on the link of the name of the family member it will direct you to their individual pages. ''' [http://krisjenner.celebuzz.com Kris Jenner] [http://kimkardashian.celebuzz.com Kim Kardashian ] [http://www.celebuzz.com/kourtney-kardashian/ Kourtney Kardashian ] [http://khloekardashian.celebuzz.com Khloe Kardashian ] [http://kendallandkylie.celebuzz.com Kendall and Kylie Jenner ] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Kardashian Rob Kardashian ] [http://www.brucejenner.com Bruce Jenner ] '''''For further information on the Keeping Up With The Kardashian show and family as a whole, please visit the resources below. ''''' [http://www.eonline.com/shows/kardashians Keeping Up With The Kardashians E! Online] [https://www.facebook.com/kuwtk Keeping Up With The Kardashians Facebook ] [http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians Keeping Up With The Kardashians Fan Club] [http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians Kardashianpedia] '''References'''